King of the Sea
by 0Blue-Bird0
Summary: Zoro takes Luffy swimming using the Bubble Coral from Fishman Island and Luffy has a revelation. Warning for established, but light, Zolu.


This takes place right after Fishman Island and before Punk Hazard.

Warning: light boyXboy relationship, possible spoilers (not major ones though), and I'm a bit... creative with the limitations of devil fruit users while submerged under water.

* * *

"Are you sure about this Captain?" Zoro asked. Luffy, who had his arms wrapped tightly around Zoro's neck and his legs hitched up just under his armpits, gave the deceitfully calm water one last nervous glance before nodding.

"Ok then Luffy." Nami piped in from her place next to the railing. She reached into her pocket and brought out the small piece of bubble coral that Jinbei had given them before their crew had left Fishman Island. It turned out that the coral was rechargable so they just had to leave it out for a while to recharge its air supply. She handed it to Zoro before giving their captain a big wink. "Have fun down there." Luffy didn't answer, mainly because his cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel in some last ditch effort to conserve air. And he wasn't even anywhere near the water yet.

Not that Nami or Zoro blamed him. The sea was a devil fruit user's enemy. The last place they would go willingly. It meant death to them. Which is why the Straw Hat crew had been surprised earlier that morning when Luffy had declared that he wanted to go swimming with the bubble coral. He'd even gone as far as to make it a Captain's Order, and Nami could count on one hand how many time he'd used _that_ move in the past. But since he couldn't possible go under alone, it was elected that Zoro would go with him. Not that Zoro minded. After all, what else were first mates, and lovers, there for if not to help carry out their Captain's whims.

So now they were standing there, with Zoro balanced on the Thousand Sunny's railing and Luffy wrapped around him like a baby animal. Both of them were wearing a pair of swim trunks but Zoro kept one of his swords, the white one, attached to his waist. 'Just in case' he had told Nami when she asked.

Nami was standing right next to the railing. "Ok," she told them. "I'll keep watch up here, but if the weather changes too much, then I'll send down a cloud to get you two." Both Luffy and Zoro nodded and she gave them a thumbs up. "Good Luck Captain." And with that, Zoro jumped.

* * *

The water wasn't freezing like Zoro expected it to be. It was somewhere in between cold and warm. Zoro, who had his own arms wrapped around Luffy's legs in order to hold him in place, felt Luffy's grip on his neck slacken. So he quickly brought the hand with the bubble coral up and shoved it into Luffy's face. He pressed down on the top of it, and within seconds, his captain had a little sphere of air surrounding his head. Zoro could hear Luffy take a few gasps of air before his captain finally calmed down some. Luffy's grip on him was still almost non-existent, but Zoro couldn't do anything about that unless he wanted to make a giant bubble around the two of them.

So he just secured his captain to his back before diving down deeper. His lungs were starting to burn slightly, but they weren't enough of a bother yet to warrant him using any of the bubble coral. After all, this was Luffy's wish. He didn't want to waste any coral bubble air on himself that he didn't need to.

* * *

Luffy meanwhile, was having the time of his life. It was intense, to say the least. He'd been in the sea plenty of times, more times then he could count. But never like this. Before it had always been terrifying. His lungs had always felt like they were being burned, compressed, and stretched all at the same time. Water had always flooded his lungs through his mouth and nose and his limbs would always feel like they were full of lead.

And it would be terrifying because in those moments, there would always be that fear of death. And it was different from the feelings he got when facing strong enemies like Magellan or almost getting beheaded by Buggy. At least in those moments he could fight back, try to preserve his life. But in the water, he didn't stand a chance.

But this was different. Really truly different. His limbs were still heavy and he could barely keep his grip around Zoro's neck, but they didn't hurt as much. And his lungs and chest felt fine as well. That quiet, rational area of his mind told him that it was because he wasn't panicking like he normally would. Instead, his heart seemed to be racing with excitement. He turned his head around to take in his surroundings.

It was quiet underwater. The silence of it, something he never seemed to notice before, pressed in all around him. And as Zoro kept diving, Luffy felt the temperature decrease little by little. The farther down they got, the colder it was. It was also darker. Luffy looked back up at the surface. He could see the underside of the Thousand Sunny (their boat was huge of course), and the water around the Sunny was a really light, really bright shade of blue. Luffy watched a few small school of fish swim overhead and the water darkened for a few seconds until they had passed again.

"Awesome!" Luffy said, his voice was just above a whisper. He had said it before; that the Pirate King was the man who had the most freedom on the high seas, not the man who ruled over them. But he wondered for a few seconds what it would be like to own the ocean itself. To be able to swim around in it for hours on end and just watch it span on for miles and miles. He wondered if it would look the same under the sea as it did on top of the sea. "We need Jinbei." Luffy declared in the same calm, quiet voice, thinking about how cool it would be to have a crew mate who could help him do, and learn, all of that.

* * *

Zoro couldn't see his captain's face, but he knew that Luffy was currently having quite the experience. His captain always seemed to radiate the mood that he was in, which led to his moods being contagious. When Luffy was happy, the rest of the crew was ecstatic. There were more parties, more fun, and life just seemed easier. But when Luffy was upset or distraught, it meant that everybody else in the crew would feel anxious until they found a way to bring their captain back to his happy ways.

Right now, Luffy was radiating a mixture of joy and awe. There was a touch of shock, but also an underlying current of excitement mixed in there. It was reminiscent of the time when their crew had arrived at The Reverse Mountains, and then at The Red Line. Whatever was currently going through that head of his was big. And would probably end up causing the rest of their crew a fair amount of grief. But they would all go with it in the end because that was just how life with their captain was.

By now, the burning in his lungs was worse, although not as bad as it had been when he fought Hody. He'd have to get air soon, and- Zoro glanced up at his captain's bubble, it looked like Luffy was running low too. So, deciding to kill two birds with one stone, Zoro unwound Luffy from his back. And if Luffy was confused by his actions, then he didn't show it. In fact, Zoro could easily just let go of him right then and there and Luffy would just sink lower and lower until that little bubble of air broke and then he would drown. As a devils fruit eater, going willingly into the sea would have basically been suicide. The fact that he trusted Zoro to take care of him underwater spoke volumes more than any simple words could. His captain had a special way of showing his crew mates how important they were to him. And showing that he trusted Zoro to this extent made Zoro all the more willing to protect him and his dream.

Zoro instead brought Luffy to his chest and held him in place with one hand while draping his captain's plaint arms around his neck with the other. At this point, Zoro's face was in Luffy's bubble and their noses were brushing. Zoro was now treading water hard enough to keep them both in hovering place.

"Hmm, what is it Zoro?" Luffy asked, seemingly oblivious to their close proximity.

"Nothing captain." Zoro told him, a small smile finding its way onto his face. "You just looked like you were having a good time." Although that was a bit of an understatement. Normally being underwater left devil fruit users drained, but Luffy seemed to be revitalized. His face was practically glowing.

"Hey Zoro," Luffy said, and his smile seemed to reach up to his ears. "I decided, I'm going to be King of the Pirates _and_ King of the Sea!" he declared. His forehead bumped Zoro's and Zoro gave him an exaggerated look of disbelief.

"King of the Sea?" he asked, one eye brow raised high. "I haven't heard that one before."

"Of course." Luffy answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because I just decided it." Or maybe it was. Zoro teased him with another 'are you sure about that?' look.

"But I thought that Neptune was the King of the Sea." Zoro said, "Don't tell me that you're planning to marry him." he added because he knew the affect that it'd have on Luffy. Luffy cheeks puffed out and he seemed offended by the very idea.

"No! Neptune's already King. If I married him, then I'd be his queen or something-"

"Oh, maybe you should marry the Princess then." Zoro continued, quirking his other eyebrow at the mention of Shirahoshi. Although he had to admit that the idea of them together was laughable. Luffy frowned again, although it was more pronounced this time.

"Zoro!"

"Or maybe Prince Fukabo-"

"No!" Luffy declared, cutting Zoro off mid sentence. "I'm gonna marry Zoro. Then I'll be the King of the Pirates _and_ the King of the Sea and you'll be the Queen of both!" Luffy said, proud of his idea.

"Fine." Zoro told him. "I'll take you up on that then." he said before leaving in and drawing Luffy into a kiss. It was the lazy, slow kind. Luffy let Zoro lead because he was too tired to and Zoro kept it slow because he didn't see any reason to rush. But after a while, both of their lungs began to burn, which reminded them that they did, in fact, need air to breathe, and that Luffy's air bubble was getting pretty small.

Zoro drew back with a smile still lingering on his face. "I'll take you back up now, _my king_. It should almost be lunch anyway." Luffy grinned at the nickname and Zoro tightened his grip on his captain before making his way back to the surface. Once they broke the surface, they heard Nami call out to them and the rope ladder that was usually rolled up and attached to the side of the Thousand Sunny was tossed to them. Zoro grabbed the end of the ladder and suddenly hands sprouted on the side of the boat and began pulling him and Luffy to the boat. Robin, who was standing with Nami, who was carrying two towels herself, smiled at them as she pulled them over.

"Did you have fun Captain?" Robin asked as Luffy and Zoro flopped over onto the deck.

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted, and he immediately launched into a review of what he's seen down there.

Nami, meanwhile, was handing Zoro a towel.

"Tell me, how was he?" she asked. Zoro accepted the towel before shrugging.

"Same as always." he said before wiping down his face and neck. Nami smiled at him. She knew that 'same as always' could mean anything ranging from 'bouncing off the walls' Luffy to 'sitting still but won't stop talking' Luffy and everything in between those two. But it was nice having a man in their crew who could keep up with Luffy in that whole gray area.

"-Yeah! And me and Zoro are gonna get married and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates_ and_ King of the Sea!" Luffy bragged to Robin, almost like a little kid telling their mother what they wanted to be when they grew up. And Robin just listened to him with a small smile on her face. From the corner of her eyes she could see Nami and Zoro watching them. She bloomed a hand out of Nami's shoulder and gently took her captain's towel from her.

"That sounds fun." she told Luffy. "Here." she tossed him the towel. "Dry off and then we can go inside and have lunch. I'm sure that Usopp and Chopper would like to hear what you saw down there too." And there it was again. That sparkle in her captain's eyes.

"'Kay thanks Robin!" Luffy jumped up with the towel in hand and bolted towards the kitchen to tell everybody else about his little 'undersea adventure'. Robin watched him go before turning back to Zoro and Nami.

"Did you hear that Nami?" Robin asked innocently. She walked over to Zoro and laid a hand on his shoulder. "It seems that we might have a wedding to prepare for."

Nami laughed. "It sure does." She cupped Zoro's face in her hands and ignored the scowl on his face. "And I'm sure that Zoro will look all pretty dolled up in white and lace."

Zoro shook her hands off of his face. "Stop. Both of you." he growled, heading towards the kitchen.

"And then there are the invites!" Nami laughed louder. "I wonder who we should send them too. Maybe some of the other Supernova?"

"Stop it."

"And the location too." Robin piped up. "Should it be in the East Blue, Grand Line, or maybe on Raftel?"

"SHUT UP!."

* * *

Proving to myself that I _can_ write little drabbles even when I'm writing a Multichapter.

But anyway, I got this little idea in my head and it sounded cute so I did it. I hope you enjoyed it.

(shameless plug) and check out my story Star Crossed while you at it! (/shameless plug)


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